About Goddards
Goddards Brewery has its origins in two separate companies.
Ron Mackenzie founded Tavern Supplies (IoW) Ltd in 1989 as an
independent drinks wholesaler based in Cowes on the Isle of
Wight. The company was a subsidiary of the Oakley Leisure Group,
though rather outside their core business.
Meanwhile, having been financially comprehensively 'stuffed' by
Lloyd's (the insurance market) Anthony Goddard and his wife had
to sell up their vineyard at Barton Manor in East Cowes, and had
moved to the rather more modest Barnsley Farm on the outskirts
of Ryde in 1991. Being unemployable, the next step was to start
a new business. Having developed a taste for making alcohol,
brewing seemed logical. As it happened, Burt's - the Island's
long established brewery at Ventnor - was in the hands of the
receivers. It was by now in a pretty parlous state. An offer was
made to the receivers, which was (luckily, in hindsight) turned
down as being too low.
However, the last Head Brewer of Burt's was Jonathan Stancill.
He had struggled to produce the last few brews with slack malt,
dodgy old hops and a dwindling stock of oil to raise the steam
needed to run the plant. He - rather bravely - thought that it
might be a good idea to join Anthony at Barnsley Farm instead,
and start a new brewery with a 15-barrel brew-length plant,
which was installed in a fine old barn at the Farm. The decision
to go ahead was taken in January 1993, and the first brew was
racked off in May, ready for the tourist season.
Right from the outset, quality was to be the aim. Raw materials
were (and still are) purchased for their quality first and
foremost, and 'hang the cost'. Since there was a strong desire
to keep overheads as low as possible, Tavern Supplies (IoW) Ltd
agreed to distribute the beers, which saved the need for office
staff/draymen, lorries and so on.
Sadly, this arrangement was only to last a few months, as Ron
Mackenzie died of a brain tumour at the tragically young age of
49. The Oakley Group were not really interested in keeping
Tavern Supplies, so the next logical step was for Goddard family
interests to buy the company from Oakley, which they did in July
1994. The brewery at Barnsley Farm now formed a division of
Tavern Supplies.
By now, the Cowes premises were beginning to burst at the seams
- and the lease was running out! The third logical step, then,
was to build a new warehouse at Barnsley Farm, and move the
operation there all 'under one roof'. At the same time, the
capacity of the brewery was quadrupled (partly to cope with
kegging the beers, and partly to cope with sales growth) and
Tavern Supplies changed its name to Goddards Brewery Ltd.
Brewery output having shot up by 45% in two years, the decision was taken in 2007 to wind up the wholesale drinks division and move the brewery into the space thus vacated. The wholesale drinks division was contributing less and less to the company's results, and demanded an unattractively large proportion of management time and effort. By contrast, the brewery was bursting at the seams, and the brand "Goddards" getting ever wider trade and consumer awareness and recognition. Time will tell if this was a potty decision!
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